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Borrowers keep on borrowing

This is unreal. From the Wall Street Journal:

Habit-Forming: Borrowers Keep Piling On Debt
As Lenders' Tighter Standards Cut Off Some Avenues, People Tap Credit Cards, Equity Lines

The credit crunch has made it harder for Americans to indulge in their love affair with debt. So what are they doing?

Borrowing more.

While tighter lending standards have cut off all but the most credit-worthy borrowers from auto loans and home loans, many people are turning to credit cards and tapping more of their home-equity lines of credit to dig themselves in deeper. And lenders, once eager to lend to those with even spotty credit records, are trying to rein in borrowing by cutting consumers' available credit lines.

Hard to argue the numbers -- you can see the run-up in 2004 and things start to taper off in 2006 but not by much. This is insanity... Posted by DaveH at April 11, 2008 8:49 PM